Bichi
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Some of the most authentic and delicious wines are born from the least expected places and most unlikely collaborations. In the rugged mountains of Mexico’s Baja California Norte, Bichi has put together one of the most exciting projects in the world of wine. 
 
Noel Téllez and the Téllez family founded Bichi in 2014. The family is originally from Sonora, and the name of the winery, Bichi, means ‘naked’ in the Sonoran Yaqui language. From 2014 to 2017, Noel worked closely with his family and with Louis-Antoine Luyt (the French winemaker who made his name working with old vine País in Chile) to find and make wine from the area’s ancient vineyards of diverse varieties; today Noel makes wine own his own after many years of collaboration with Yann Rohel of Beaujolais. Their focus is on organic and dry-farmed heirloom vineyards that express the long and complex viticultural history of Baja California.

The history of grape cultivation in the area began with the arrival of Vitis vinifera in Mexico in the 1500s: Spanish colonialism brought Catholicism, and with it came the Missions and the vines. Vitis Vinifera thrived in the area, and the region was so well-suited to viticulture that the Spanish Crown imposed strict controls on wine commerce in fear of New World wine eating into the market for the produce of the home country. Viticulture, of course, continued:  Catholic missions, settlers, and indigenous communities continued growing grapes and making wine throughout Baja California. The area’s main grape was the ancient Misión – known also as Chile’s País, Argentina’s Criollo, California’s Mission and the Listán Prieto of the Canary Islands (the variety’s oldest known location was in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain). 
 
By Mexican independence in 1821, grape farming and wine production was quite widespread and secure in the area, and today most of Mexico’s wine is produced in Baja California in a stretch that reaches east from the coastal Valle de Guadalupe to arid Tecate. During American Prohibition, Mexican winemakers and (and some enterprising American exiles) produced illicit wine and brandy from these vines for the Los Angeles market, and vines dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century are not uncommon. As in Southern California, the dry climate and sandy soils are well suited to low-intervention farming for Vitis vinifera, as the risks of phylloxera and mildew are mostly absent – but bracingly hot days and rainless nights tend to result in low yields. 
 
While the Valle de Guadalupe has overall adopted a more technological and modern approach, Bichi adheres to traditional methods and minimal intervention. Bichi farms 10 hectares of their own Tecate vineyards biodynamically and collaborates with a growing network of small farmers who work vineyards organically in Tecate and around San Antonio de las Minas in the coastal Valle de Guadalupe. Their work with Misión is notable, but other varieties include Rosa del Peru, Tempranillo, Palomino, Chenin Blanc, and harder-to-identify rarities - as in the No Sapiens vineyard, which is planted to a still-unidentified grape that resembles Italian Dolcetto. In the winery, grapes are destemmed by hand and gently trodden by foot, and fermentations are carried out by wild yeast in locally made concrete amphorae and flex tanks. The wines are raised in a mix of neutral barrels and steel vats, with only a minuscule 10 ppm of sulfur added at bottling when necessary.

It’s hard to talk about Bichi without mentioning the labels, which feature Mexican luchadores and express Noel’s sense of humor. Inside the bottles are incredibly vibrant and transparent wines that evoke the nearby Pacific Ocean, the granite soils, and rugged mountain vineyards of their region. Through the persistent work of the family and their farmers and collaborators, lively Baja wine is officially on the map.​

The Wines
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Pet Mex is 50% Dolcetto and 50% Lambrusco from the San Antonio de las Minas vineyard in Ensenada, situated 300 meters above sea level and rooted in sandy soils. The grapes were hand-harvested, de-stemmed, and pressed after a few hours on the skins. Fermented with wild yeasts, and the wine was bottled early to finish fermentation under crown cap to make a petillant naturel wine.

Pepe Nat is 100% Dolcetto from the San Antonio de las Minas vineyard in Ensenada. The grapes were hand-harvested and fermented in whole clusters with wild yeasts. The wine is pressed after 25 days and and bottled early to finish fermentation under crown cap to make a petillant naturel wine. No added SO2. 

La Gorda Yori was initially made from Moscatel (thus the name, which means “fat and wide” due to the grape’s size), but as of 2019 it now comes from mostly a dry-farmed parcel of Chenin Blanc planted in the 1980’s on granitic soils in Tecate, which was abandoned a few years after planting and recently revived by Noel and his team, and bits of Sauvignon Blanc and Moscatel, which were blended in to balance the ripeness of the Chenin. The grapes are hand-harvested, de-stemmed, and fermented with wild yeasts in concrete tinajas (amphoras), with 3 months of skin contact before pressing. The wine is raised over the winter and bottled without fining, filtration or added SO2 (starting in 2019).
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Rosa is 100% Mission (Listán) from the same vineyard in the Valle de La Grulla, Ensenada.  Harvested early and pressed (no maceration on skins) to stainless steel tank to ferment. No fining, filtration or added SO2.

No Sapiens is 100% Dolcetto from the San Antonio de las Minas vineyard in Ensenada, Baja California. The grapes were hand-harvested and fermented in whole clusters for 15 days with wild yeasts. The wine is pressed and aged in stainless steel. Bottled unfined, unfiltered with no added SO2. 

Prince is 50% Dolcetto, 40% Lambrusco and 10% Tokai from the San Antonio de las Minas vineyard in Ensenada, Baja California. After hand-harvesting, a portion of the fruit gets direct pressed, while the rest gets added whole cluster to the fermenting juice to infuse. After 5 days, the wine is pressed into tank. Bottled unfined, unfiltered with no added SO2.

Listan is 100% Mission, also known as Listán Prieto or País from an 105-year-old vineyard in Tecate, situated at 800 meters above sea level and planted on sandy-loam soils. The grapes were destemmed by hand, fermented with their skins in concrete lagar for 25 days, then pressed into inox tank to rest for 1 year. Bottled unfined, unfiltered, with no added SO2. 

Happy Flama is the new Flame Rosa, in a lighter and fresher style. 70% from the Bichi home vineyard, which is planted to Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Dolcetto, and others in Tecate plus 30% Rosa del Peru from the same vineyard as La Santa. Fermentation and resting in stainless steel. 
 
La Santa comes from centenarian, own-rooted Rosa del Peru (Moscatel Negro) vines grown at 2,400 ft elevation on sandy loam and granite soils in Tecate. The grapes were hand-harvested, de-stemmed, and fermented without temperature control in 450 liter concrete tinajas with 45 days of maceration. The wine was then raised for 3 months in ½ stainless steel vats and ½ older barrels.

Location

General Info

  • ​Founded: 2014
  • Region: ​Baja California
  • Village: Tecate
  • Elevation: 750m
  • Climate: Mediterranean
  • Soils: Granite, Sand
  • Vineyard Land: 10 Ha
  • Farming: Biodynamic & Organic
  • Grower: Noel Téllez y vecinos

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